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This month we feature the elusive coin master Ponta the Smith, who hails from Osaka and has been a professional magician since graduating from college. Ponta’s article is a bit of a potpourri—an interview, two essays, and a trick. His level of skill is extreme, to say the least; his DVDs are titled Sick for a reason. His handling of the classic “Tenkai Pennies” is among his less difficult pieces, so please give it a try.
The late Ken Silverman, an accomplished amateur magician since a young age, and a Pulitzer Prize winning biographer, wrote the definitive biography of Houdini in 1997 titled, most appropriately, HOUDINI!!! Ken started writing about magic while still at Columbia University and, in cooperation with his son Ethan, we are pleased to bring you the first publication of a story involving Ken, Al Flosso, and Frank Garcia.
Also this issue: Stephen Forrester remembers Micky Hades, while Paul Gertner remembers Bill Goldman. * In “Dealing With It,” John Bannon exhumes an overlooked twist to Spectator Cuts the Aces, ditches the sleight of hand, and comes up with “SMACK Monte.” * “The Chair Test” is a well-known plot in mentalism where the performer is able to predict where spectators brought onstage will sit. In this month’s “Conjuring,” Jim Steinmeyer divines that in advance. * The goings on at The Magic Castle are revealed to us by Shawn McMaster, who spotlights Kevin Kapinos and Jonathan Levit in “Knights at The Magic Castle.” * In “Magicana” Jamy Ian Swiss explains a working pro’s Coin in Bottle routine and then tells us who Alex Boyce really is. * Vanessa Armstrong, who sometimes seems to be everywhere all at once, tells all in “The Eye.” * Krystyn Lambert delves into Who We Are vs. Who We Were in “Stage as Studio.” * David Regal delivers an Ace Assembly in which the principal cards hang invisibly in the air until they drop into view in “Material Concessions.” * In “WWPD,” Jonathan Friedman does a pirouette and a card changes between his lips. * Jon Racherbaumer digs deep for a fooler from Al Leech in “Exhumations.” * The issue wraps with Light from the Lamp in which: Bill Wells reviews videos, with a deep look at Curtis Kam’s third Penguin Live lecture; David Regal reviews tricks, including Angelo Carbone’s big-seller “Demi Deck”; and Tom Frame reviews books, among them The Elusive Illusive by Ben Daggers, whom I saw with Ponta the Smith in Tokyo.